Products & Database

Methanol is one of the most important basic chemicals, along with ethylene, propylene and ammonia, which is commonly used to produce chemical products, such as biodiesel, formaldehyde, polymers, acetic acid, DME and MTBE. Methanol is also commonly used as a
fuel for vehicles, ships and industrial boilers.

Global methanol production has almost doubled over the last ten years and reached 98 million tons in 2019. The need for methanol is also predicted to increase to 120 million tons in 2025 and even 500 million tons in 2050. Natural gas is still the raw material mainstay
in the manufacture of methanol to date. This makes methanol a material that can bridge the gap between fossil energy and renewableenergy.

Renewable methanol has been developed globally since 2004 and has begun to spread in several European countries, such as Iceland, Norway, Canada, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany. In the Asian region, countries such as China and South Korea have started
to develop renewable methanol. Massive development of renewable methanol will begin in 2023 to 2030 with a production capacity of 45,000 tons per year to 100,000 tons per year, which is predominantly carriedout by countries in Europe and Australia.

In Indonesia, no renewable methanol plant has been developed to date. Indonesia still uses natural gas as the main raw material for methanol production. Currently Indonesia has only one methanol producer. On the other hand, Indonesia's abundant natural gas resources provide great potential to develop new methanol plants to meet domestic methanol needs. Indonesia also has great potential to develop renewable methanol, given its abundant renewable energy resources, such as solar and geothermal energy.

 

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